Winter League Fishing Returns by Ray Merckx
Published in The Sentinel of Gloucester County Weekly Newspaper Print Edition Week of 11/12/2020.
With warm weather this past weekend, the Open Buddy Winter League contestants had more early fall like conditions as opposed to late fall conditions. The anglers who did fish this weekend however had a great time.
Tournament bass anglers took to Rainbow Lake on Saturday (11/7) to launch the Winter League Series and Sunday (11/8) on Davis Mill Pond to Launch the Extreme Winter League Series. The major talk of both tournaments was local angler Dave Haas of Sewell who fished with his nephew Matt Widdis from Yardley PA. Dave and Matt took second place and won the pickerel pool on Saturday at Rainbow Lake and took first place on Sunday at Davis Mill.
While Dave’s nephew Matt only caught a few small bass, he was very quick on the net. The most important thing any angler knows is that if you don’t have a good partner on the net to land the fish in the boat, it can make or break you. With Matt’s awesome netting skills it helped them be the top contenders for both tournaments.
If one thing is for sure, young Matthew definitely learned from one of South Jersey’s best anglers. Many people who know Dave Haas and his son Jake will always tell you, those boys know how to catch bass wherever they go. Just watch out now for Matt Widdis of Yardley, PA. This young man has some great knowledge on how to catch bass and how to compete.
So with the first weekend of Winter League tournaments in the books, anglers can look forward to the next set this weekend. Saturday’s tournament will be held on Sunset Lake in Bridgeton and Extreme Winter League is to be held Sunday on Parvin Lake. Both tournaments usually start at 7am and usually end by 1pm. Anglers who wish to participate must have 2 anglers per boat with a working livewell. Tournaments are $40 to enter which includes lunker, miscellaneous and pickerel pool.
Photos are of Dave and Matt with their fish and winnings at Davis Mill Pond.